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Maaike and Aiden had barely walked in the door when Graeme greeted her with a fretful frown and a letter. When she tried to dismiss it as something she would look at later (any urgent business he could take of himself, damn him), the human shoved the envelope right in her face so she could see that it was already opened — and stamped with the official insignia of Alexshire's Red Wardens.
She stared at it dumbfounded for a heartbeat, two. She had been away for so long, had been through so much, that being back in Elysia at all felt completely surreal. Physically exhausted and emotionally drained, terrified she was in no way cured after all, she wanted to just curl up and sleep for a week. The one good thing to come out of it all was that she could now say with conviction that Aiden Roy was a man she could trust.
“There's, ah. One for Mister Roy, too.”
That settled it. Despite all her caution and two months away from any known civilisation, someone had discovered her home base and spilled the beans to those delightful morons they called justice. And they had to know that this was home and not just a stop-off. She hadn't been back at Greenview long enough for anyone to find her. Though, if that damned League banana-chips-for-brains hadn't held her back to be sure she wasn't going to burst apart at the seams, they would have been in Espur two days ago. Everyone else got to go home, but her? She should have kept her mouth shut about the Red Mist, damn it.
“Are you sure no one's...” She arched her eyebrows rather than ask him outright if he or the staff had been blabbing, had any strange visitors, seen anything odd. Graeme blanched, and that was enough for her. “Sorry, Gray.” She patted his arm and rubbed the bridge of her nose with a weary fingertip, then skimmed through the crap — signed by Alain Moreaux. Well, that figured. This legalese was right up his alley. He'd made no bones about his job, so she'd been extremely careful around him. She hadn't given him her full name, and pinched Aiden's arm when he started to introduce himself. She'd hoped that, away from everything they knew, he would either fail to recognise her description or let it go, but apparently the first thing he'd done when he got home was to plot her capture.
At least now she knew how her location was discovered. That vlareon was a mind-reader.
“Well, I don't know about you, Sweet Cheeks.” She glanced up at her constant companion for the last two months. Oddly, while they were in that Xanth-forsaken place, she hadn't the energy to miss their banter, but now she was home it all came flooding back. “But I don't plan on being thrown in jail any time soon.”